Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-10-18
miscellaneous.
SCIENTIFIC soulBs.

A kind of ant in Honduras will prey upon
houses, and when once started VIII soon eat
one down.
White pepper frequently has undergone a
process Of bleaching by chlorine. which i'm
proves its color, but deteriorates the quality.
Men desiring to be agreeable remove the
odor Of tobacco, which remains after snok-
ing, by solution of thymol, used as a mouth
wash.
For the past twenty years or more Mr.
Isaac Pitman, who is still a very hard worker
at the age of nearly 70 years, has been a
strict vegetarian as well as a temperance
man.
A fine show Of chrysanthenums should
soon appear in the public grounds of Wash
ington, the superintendent having some
months ago planted 1900 plants for their
decoration the present autumn.
A journal devoted to mazography, a
science by which it is undertaken to deter
mine a persons character by the size and
shape Of his nose, is soon to be published, if
its announcement from Paris is credible.
The pulse of young woman has been
beating at the rate of l35 per minute for two
years past, in consequence of a severe fright
from plaster falling upon her from the cell
ing and by which she was awakened
A hospital for animals is projected in Lon
don with free dispensaries in the poorer
quarters, where, besides treatment for suffer-
ing animals, lectures can be given and
pamphlets distributed for public instruction
The most novel complaint of impure milk
reported is that of the London boy boarded
out under the poor law regulation, who re-
ported that the milk given him out of town,
instead of being taken from clean tins, had
been squeezed out of nasty COW, and he
seed 'ern doing it."
An Oxford meteorologist seeks to prove
that the European and American magnetic
poles are coincident with the centers of great
est cold for the two continents and that the
shifting of the magnetic poles is due to the
same series of astronomical and geological
causes which produce the secular changes in
climate
AT various magnetic observatories on the
continent of Europe slight disturbances were
registered, which apparently were connected
in time with the late earthquakes. NJ Mas
cart believes that more careful examination
Of the records of different observations will
show the connection which may exist be-
tween the two disturbances
AT the San Servola Insane asylum, reached
by gondoia from Venice, very complete and
scientific histories of cases are required and
recorded The skull of every patient is ac-
curatey examined and measured, no less
than fifteen different measurements being
taken, according TO the Italian craniometri-
cal system, and recorded in the history
All the fine flowers seen at exhibitions are
obtainel by the plants being "disbudded,n as
the method is technically known. The expert
florists instruct amateurs, who select special
kinds from the cut flower tables that they
must not be disappointed at finding them
half the size when they flower unless they
pinch off all the buds but one on each shoot
Just as soon as the buds can be seen.
Paint is found better than calcimine or
whitewash upon the walls of kitchen, since
the steam from the washing or cooking has
less effect upon it, and also because it can be
more readily cleaned Before painting, the
wall needs to be washed with soapsuds then
covered with a coat of dissolved glue, which
must be allowed to dry thoroughly before the
paint is applied, the work being done well
and quickly with broad, fiat brush
Screws that are too small for separate treat
ment may be cleaned as follows: Take one
pound of screws and place them in a small
boX-a cigar box will do; put small guam
thy of oil on them and shake for a minute;
then PIT piece of cotton waste in the box,
ana repeat for a minute; finally put hand
full OF sawdust in the box and shake for an
other minute or so, and remove the sawdnst
by sitting it from the screws in fine sieve
The screws will be found as good as new.
From all accounts of the ''slver snake" of
Honduras it most resembles quicksilver in its
movement, One traveller tells of a specimen
four inches long and about the size of fence
wire which it was impossible to hold when
taken in the hands. The statement is re-
peated which is said to be made on good au-
thority, that fowl often eat these snakes and
shortly after can have the pleasure of doing
so again, as in few moments one will wiggle
through the alimentary canal, and can per-
form the feat many times without firing.